Minority Recruitment at School Psychology Graduate Programs

by Johnson, Audene Harvey

Abstract (Summary)

In most urban schools, the number of minority students
currently does or is expected to exceed the current number
of majority, or Caucasian, students. Training programs need
information that can help them diversify the field of
school psychology.
National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) -
accredited programs completed a questionnaire to determine
the existence of recruitment policies and to measure the
emphasis being placed on specific recruitment strategies.
Other factors thought to affect program choice, such as
institution location and minority faculty and students,
were also surveyed.
Program Brochures/Website was the most used category
of strategies. Within that category, noting faculty
interests in multicultural issues in the brochure or on the
website was the most used strategy. Personal Contacts was
the second most emphasized recruitment category, followed
by Institution/Program Benefits, Admissions, and Speaking Engagements. The three most emphasized strategies were:
Promote program reputation, Offer program visits, and
Encourage faculty and mentor interaction.
The number of minority faculty members had a
significant association with both the percentage of
minority students enrolled within a program and the
percentage of minority graduates within the last five
years. Institution location, especially urban settings,
also related to the percentage of minority students
enrolled. The existence of written recruitment policies and
procedures had no significant bearing on the percentage of
minority students enrolled within a program or minority
graduates within the last five years. The percentage of
minority students enrolled correlated significantly with
the percentages of recent minority graduates.
Training programs should place more emphasis on
promoting the inherent and less obvious benefits of their
institution location and utilize minority faculty to
recruit applicants in more diverse areas. Implementing
retention programs and gaining a more thorough knowledge of
their applicants may assist training programs in increasing
their student enrollment and graduation percentages. Future
researchers should survey first year minority graduate students and minority students who do not complete their
training program to gain more information.